institutionalized
adjective
Simple meaning
Having been committed to an institution, such as a prison or an insane asylum.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihnstihtooshuhnuhlyzdSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪnstɪˈtuʃənəlaɪzd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Having been established as an institution.
Having been committed to an institution, such as a prison or an insane asylum.
psychology
Having become dependent after a long time in, and unable to function outside of an institution, especially a prison.
Officially placed in or committed to a specialized institution
“Had hopes of rehabilitating the institutionalized juvenile delinquents.”
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Having been established as an institution.
Used this way, institutionalized is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use institutionalized
- “Had hopes of rehabilitating the institutionalized juvenile delinquents.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Antonyms
Sense: having been established as an institution
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.